Hello!
In the Mariners Superstitions, you present some example of how Drellis/Karrym could shape the customs of Khoras inhabitants. I was wondering if you think they DO have an effect (by an obscur and very weak interraction between tetrion and brain, or nervous system...). After all, if brains can shape nadion field, it's not absurd that tetrion (which destroy the nadion field) has some influence on brains.
As I like the Drellis effect, it has a strong influence in "my" world (at least my version of Khoras). I have already described the interaction between the Drellis/Karrym effect on the four "paranormal" fields of my rules (magic, sorcery, faith and spiritism ; I'm going to detail this in another section). But I would like to introduce an effect of the stellar phase on the global behaviour. For example, people are more confortable with strangers during Karrym phase. They are more optimistic, and see life more beautiful... And it would be the contrary on Drellis phase.
The problem is : if people are more comfortable in Karrym phase, does-it apply to everybody and specially robbers, murderers, smugglers and so on? Because it is obviously contradictory. ??? I don't want to put a ethic distinction (Drellis effect improves bad people, and Karrym good people) because the Drellis effect is physic and has nothing to do with ethic.
That's why I was wondering if anybody has already thought about this topic.
That's an interesting idea. I don't think anyone has come up with that. (At least I haven't heard anyone mention it).
You could certainly rule that Karrym and Drellis has a psychological influence on humanoids. For that matter, you could also say it affects certain animals. Maybe dragons are more aggressive during a Drellis phase. I don't see why not.
Yes but my main problem is :
If thieves, robbers, smugglers, assassin, rapist... are optimistic/happy/whatever during Karrym phase, it would be hard times for commoners. But they are also optimistic/happy/whatever... during these phases! Are they stupid? ???
And I don't think the solution is hidden in the improved behavior of the militia / army / patrols... In my opinion, commoners do not rely entirely on guards to assure their protection. And very few crimes are directly avoided thanks to them (even if criminals are taken after).
Another idea is to say that they don't realize that bad guys are also improved, because life is so beautiful during this phase. They do not have statistics, or pools...
???
I think a lot of this depends on how subtle or exaggerated the effect is. If it's very influential, it would have a tremendous effect on social behavior and culture.
The full moon is traditionally associated with insomnia and insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various magical phenomena such as lycanthropy. I once read somewhere that there was a theory that the moon's gravitional effect had some very subtle influence on the fluids of the body and caused heightened stress in people, hence the origins of those words and the lycanthrope myth. However, I doubt that since the full moon doesn't have any more gravity that any other moon. But the myths started somewhere.
If you make it so that the two stars have a big impact on the way people behave, it would probably work its way into the culture in a similar way. There might be magic "charms" to ward off bad feelings during a Drellis effect. Festivals, dances and weddings might be held during Karrym phases to take advantage of the heightened moods. Funerals and such might be held during Drellis phases. One army might stage a battle during a Drellis phase hoping that the sun would demoralize the other side and use the magic charm (mentioned earlier) to bolster the morale of its own troops.
If the population is affected overall by the two suns, tempers would flare during a Drellis phase. So would assaults and murder. Sentinels might be more alert during a Drellis phase (it keeps you sharp, whereas during a Karrym phase that happy contented feeling makes you lax). There could be hundreds of little effects.
Anyway, it's an interesting idea and a good academic exercise. I probably won't have such a psychological effect in my version of Khoras, but I like that we are exploring variations on the theme. :) If you implement this in your game, you'll have to let us know how it went. :)
I agree with Dave. That's a great idea and part of the whole purpose with the forum is to think about these kinds of things. So let us know if it works out.